


Saving A Hero

by Tara_par41 (Definitely_an_Alien_pewpew)



Category: Undertale (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Anxiety, Crying, Determined Midoriya Izuku, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Izuku will literally break the game to free everyone, Middle School Student Midoriya Izuku, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Sans (Undertale), Protective Toriel (Undertale), Puzzles, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, Smart Midoriya Izuku, Suicidal Thoughts, Video Game Mechanics, but only in the beginning, it has some aspects of the game but not all, kind of, like even more than frisk, like he's around 14, like very very
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24983185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Definitely_an_Alien_pewpew/pseuds/Tara_par41
Summary: Midoriya Izuku, impossibly, bumps into Frisk (and Chara).Midoriya Izuku saves them.Then, Midoriya Izuku falls in their place.Frisk may have been determined, but Izuku's soul bleeds such an impossible will that even the universe will have no other choice but to adjust it's pre-determined outcome.This is his Journey.
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Midoriya Izuku & Papyrus (Undertale), Midoriya Izuku & Sans (Undertale), Midoriya Izuku & Toriel, Midoriya Izuku & Undertale Cast
Comments: 28
Kudos: 212





	1. The beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Will I finish this? Will I not? Let's find out shall we.
> 
> I got very inspired to write this because I realized that if there was _anyone_ else I knew that had even more determination than Frisk, it would be Midoriya Izuku.
> 
> So yeah, lets have some fun yall! :D

It's been a long day.

It's been a terribly, terribly long day.

Izuku sighs as he walks aimlessly, stumbling around an eerie road with no sense of direction. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to just get on a train and let it take him to the last stop, but he's lost all and any will to care anymore. At the time, running just felt like the best option.

~~_ You can't be a hero _ ~~

~~_ Quirkless Deku _ ~~

~~_ Take a swan dive off the roof _ ~~

~~_ No, I don't believe you can become a hero without power. _ ~~

~~_ I'm sorry _ ~~

_ He was drowning in all of it as the heroes above him reprimanded him for his carelessness and stupidity. He was suffocating and drowning and it was getting harder to breath oh kami.. _

_ He ran. He ran and didn't look back _ .

That was hours ago. Now the sun has set and the moon is high in the sky with bright stars twinkling down at him. He wishes he could live like that, up in the sky with no worries or heartache.

Sighing, he continues to stumble along until he finds himself in a clearing of trees, going deeper and deeper until it feels like he was in some kind of forest. That's impossible though! 

Some of Izuku's dead spirit flickers unsteadily with the revelation. He finally lets the worrying glaze over his eyes disappear as he realizes where he is.

There isn't supposed to be any forests for miles. There weren't even any signs hinting at it! Where… where  _ is _ he?

Suddenly very aware of his predicament, Izuku tries to circle back but is just met with more forest and more trees. He's utterly lost. Looking left and right, Izuku stumbles and wanders around the dark forest for an insurmountable amount of time before finally dropping to the ground in defeat. He tried his phone, but there was no signal to contact anyone. He tried screaming, but the only thing that did was have his voice echo back to him. He tried tracing his steps, but all that did was make him even more lost.

He was alone.

Tears spill over his face as soon as the thought settles in.

He is alone.

* * *

Inko tearily invites the officers inside of her home, trembling in fear and worry. It was 2 in the morning and still, Izuku was nowhere to be found. The officers couldn't track his phone, and the last people who had seen Izuku were those heroes involved in the sludge villain incident. They currently had no leads as to where her son could be.

An officer holds her as she cries after hearing that they have to try again tomorrow.

* * *

Izuku doesn't know how long he's been here.

The fear took hold of him for a few hours until it faded into resignment and not so surprisingly.. relief.

His will to live has been fading for a while, getting lost in this forest with no way out after all that's happened today, well..

It's almost like the final nail in the coffin. Like the universe was saying  _ yes, you have no purpose here. No life to live. No dreams to rely on. This is where you are meant to be. _

He's numb. 

Looking up to the sky, he sees the first signs of daylight break through, the dark sky slowly becoming brighter and brighter. Sighing, he stands up and grabs his backpack, looking for a better place to rest until he inevitably stops breathing. There's only so many days you can live without food or water after all.

Trudging along the rocky grounds, he almost trips onto the floor when he hears a soft rustle coming from a few bushes just nearby. Freezing up, his brain suddenly comes back on as he analyzes the situation around him. This whole time, he was soldiering on thinking he was alone, but now….

_ Please don't be a bear, please don't be a bear _

He stays frozen in his spot when suddenly--

"Oof!"

He gasps, heart stopping at the sight of a small child on the ground with multiple scrapes on their body. They couldn't be any older than eight years old, they were  _ that _ tiny.

Forgetting about all of his own issues, Izuku almost faceplants on the ground in his haste to get to the small child.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?! Here, wait, oh kami you're hurt.." He starts to ramble, helping them sit up and fussing over them. The child seems to have frozen in fear or… was that confusion in their eyes? 

"W-wha.." They try to say, but ultimately fumble their words. Frustrated, the child points to the greenette, furrowing their eyebrows in a questioning manner.

"Uh.. name? Do you want to know my name?" He asks. The child nods eagerly. "Uh, right yeah. My name is Midoriya Izuku! H-how about you?"

The child points to themself and very quietly responds. "Frisk" They say. 

"Alright, okay Frisk, i'm gonna get us out of here alright? We just.. we just have to find the way out of this forest and then we'll be right on back to the city. Right, okay uh.." 

Izuku fumbles around with his backpack, slinging it over his shoulders before offering his hand to the little kid. They stare at his hand, hesitating before finally accepting it into their own. 

Then, they walk.

Izuku had zero idea where he was going before, but now that a life was depending on his ability to bring them back, it was like his brain did a restart. The only thing running through his head now was to save them and bring them back to civilization. With that, his eyes sparkled with new found life and purpose. 

Taking that into account, the intelligence that he knew he had came back to him, and after a couple of hours, the trees started thinning until he saw what looked to be a road just a few meters away. Gasping, Izuku held Frisk’s hand a little tighter and excitedly smiled at them. 

“Look, we’re almost there!” He says to them.

They start crying.

Widening his eyes, Izuku immediately drops into a crouch and starts fussing over them. “O-oh gosh, did I say something wrong? I-I didn’t mean to! I’m so sorry, Frisk. I-- oof!”

He’s startled out of his worry when the small child barrels into him and hugs him fiercely. “oh…” Izuku smiles then, wrapping his arms around Frisk. “Shh, It’s okay… I’ll make sure you get back home, alright?”

The kid smiles brightly in response, rubbing tears away with their sleeve. They then suddenly look to the right and nod, as if there was someone else there. When Izuku looked however, there was no one. Furrowing his eyebrows in slight concern, he looks back to Frisk only to see them look up at him innocently.

That's… weird. There was nobody there. Who were they looking at?

Shaking his head, Izuku decides to keep that question for later. Right now, his first priority was getting Frisk out of here. 

Squaring his shoulders, Izuku stands back up and takes their hand, heading towards the road. They were almost there, just a couple of feet away, when he suddenly felt the soil sinking beneath his feet.

In a moment of panic and clarity, the first thing he did was push Frisk with all of his might towards the road, their little feet stumbling until they were only a dozen or so steps away from getting out of the strange forest. With that done, his brain goes back on overdrive as the soil and rock crumble away to reveal a deep abyss.

_ A sinkhole!? _ , He thinks disbelievingly as he scrambles for purchase at the edge of the huge hole, his hands slowly starting to slip as more soil crumbles away.

“I-Izuku!” Frisk yells, worried tears in their eyes. This was all wrong! This wasn’t supposed to happen! 

The child looks at their ghostly companion, confusion and despair on their face as they try to look for some kind of affirmation that this was a dream. The pink-cheeked girl could only shake her head, disbelief in her features. What.. what does this mean for them?

“Run, Frisk!” Izuku cried, barely hanging on by holding onto some roots from a tree. Was this how he was going to die?

Flashes of his short life ran like a timelapse before his eyes as his grip started to weaken in fatigue. His mother.. Oh god, how could he have done this to her? He regretted it! He regretted even thinking about it! He just wanted to see her, to go home and eat her katsudon, to feel her hug one last time..

But he couldn’t.

With the last of his strength, Izuku looked to the distraught child and smiled through his fear. “It’s not your fault, okay Frisk? None of this is your fault. P-please remember that. I-I’m sorry I couldn’t make sure you got home but please… just, be safe okay? Now, go. Please, go! You don’t need to see this!” He yells, his arms shaking.

The child could only sob as Chara sadly urged them to get up, the red eyed apparition’s figure shaking in realization that maybe.. maybe this was the last time they were ever going to see their savior. 

He, who saved them from the  **_player._ **

Frisk looks back one last time, tears spilling onto the dirt and grass below their feet.

Izuku wobbly grins. “It’s okay, Frisk” He says, a twin trail of tears subtly making its way down his freckled cheeks. “It’s okay. Go.”

Frisk and Chara run out of the forest and don’t look back, regret and unbelievable sadness coating their minds in grief for a kind stranger who saved them from the endless resets. Even if they went to the police, there would be no evidence of a hole left to discover. They would know that more than anyone. 

Izuku Midoriya was gone.

It was at the very moment that they stepped out of the forest that their coding broke from the grips of the  **_player_ ** . All at once, memories of the underground and their friends disappeared into thin air. Confused, Frisk stumbled along the road with Chara (a result of her ghost quirk) who was equally as confused as them. 

As they tried and continued to find their way back home, Frisk wonders why they felt so incredibly sad for no reason. Almost unconsciously, the child looks back to the forest they just emerged from, feeling a weird magnetism towards the place.

Meanwhile, Izuku watches as the child runs.

“Good” He whispers, a small sob leaving his throat. “They’re gone. Good…”

As soon as Izuku could no longer see their back, he shuts his eyes and loosens his grip until he is falling falling falling…

The last thing Izuku see’s is the clear, bright sky before he is swallowed by inky, black darkness.


	2. Tempt my Trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, chapter 2! A lot of this is pretty much uniform from the game itself, but i promise that the next one will start to diverge from the main plotline and become more of Izuku's story! Anyways, I hope yall enjoy!
> 
> (sorry for any mistakes, I am currently beta reader-less and probably will remain so for as long as I am on this site bc im shy and dont wanna let my friends read rip T-T)

When Izuku wakes, he is on his back on a bed of golden flowers, not a single injury on his body from a fall that was definitely more than 500 feet deep. Groaning, the green haired boy sits up until he can properly assess his surroundings, his bleary eyes darting around the area to make sense of...

Oh yeah, he was supposed to be dead.

Suddenly, everything comes back to him. His suicidal thoughts, the forest, Frisk, the huge hole..

His first thought after everything rushes back to him is- _I hope Frisk made it out safely._

His second is- _How the hell did I survive?_

His third is- _Where am I?_

Shakily getting on his feet, he makes sure to avoid stepping on the oddly beautiful flowers (were they buttercups?) before starting to roam the small space he found himself in. 

His eyes firstly stray upwards, seeing nothing but a sliver of light peeking through from above. 

_Yeah, I’m definitely not supposed to be alive,_ he thinks exasperatedly. Getting rid of those thoughts, he levels his head with the walls around him once more before turning around and finding a pathway. Widening his eyes, the freckled boy realizes that this isn’t just some sinkhole. Actual sinkholes would have small caverns filled with water, dirt, and rocks, not some grass with a bed of flowers and an actual pathway.

For some reason, he had a feeling that continuing through that pathway meant that there was no more going back.

Izuku was hungry, alone, emotionally drained, and confused. He had every reason to stay where he was and just hope for the best. He had every reason to lay down once more on the bed of flowers until he passed peacefully. He had every reason not to continue.

Izuku was also tired of giving up.

A feeling like no other suddenly ran through his body, his eyes glowing radioactive green as he took a deep breath in and let it out. Removing his black blazer, he carefully folds it and places it on the ground, leaving him in a white undershirt and his black pants. With one last sweep of the place, he got his hands on a stick and ventured onward.

He was filled with…. _Determination._

* * *

As he continued forward, he entered a dark tunnel before emerging into another small clearing with a patch of grass in the middle. Looking beyond that, he saw what looked to be.. a door.

_First I get up with no injuries from a fall that should have killed me, then I find out that the hole I fell into isn’t something I can explain through science, and now I find there’s a freaking door leading to something beyond this place!?_

Gulping, Izuku tightens the hold he had on his stick before continuing. He’s feet are just a few steps away from the grass when suddenly a yellow flower pops straight up from the ground in a way that should be completely impossible.

“Gahh!” He shrieks, stumbling backwards in shock and dropping the stick. Izuku must be hallucinating, because if he really focused, he could just make out what seemed to be a face on the flower. What the actual hell!?

“Howdy! I’m Flowey, Flowey the flower!” The flower said. It _spoke_ , and at this point Izuku was convinced he was dreaming. Maybe this was just one, huge fever dream. Maybe he passed out in an alley somewhere and some shady people decided to fill him up with drugs. Maybe someone was hitting him with an illusion quirk. Maybe this flower _was_ someone’s quirk, but who the hell would live here in a place like this--!?

“Hey! I’m talking to you, greenie!” The flower said, pouting dramatically. Could flowers even _pout_??

“Uh” He said intelligently, because he had to be dreaming. He _had_ to be. Absolutely nothing made sense!

The flower’s petals drooped forward in an expression of concern, it’s small beady eyes looking through Izuku’s very soul. 

“You’re new to the **Underground** , aren't cha? Golly, you must be so confused!” The flower, Flowey?, said pityingly. 

“U-underground?” He asked, uncertainly. To the flower. A talking, speaking flower. Oh Kami, help him..

“That’s right!” Flowey exclaims, cheerfully. “Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do” It? He? They? say, tilting its head and stem until it looked like it was shy and bashful. “Ready? Here we go!” 

All of a sudden, Izuku’s surroundings flickered around him until he was suspended in a black void. Gasping, Izuku tried moving and struggling until he finally noticed what looked like a red heart glowing on his seemingly transparent figure. Looking below that, he saw four visible boxes that said Fight, Act, Items, and Mercy. When he tried reaching out to the act box, the red heart moved with him until the only thing he saw was a word that said ‘check’. Instead of reaching for it though, he looked further down just to realise what looked to be game statistics. Exp, Lv, HP…

What the actual hell was going on!?

Panicking, Izuku finally looked up only to be met with a smiling Flowey in front of him. Ignoring his distraught face, the flower went straight into his spiel.

“See that heart? That is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being! Your SOUL starts off weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV. What’s LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don't you? Don't worry, I'll share some with you!” The flower says, winking. Izuku had a really, really bad feeling about this.

“Um, m-maybe not?” He says, laughing awkwardly. He knows that Flowey is being nice, and that he should be grateful that he wasn’t alone wherever he was, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was.. _wrong._

Flowey frowns. “Oh? Why not? I’m just trying to help you out, you know! Not all monsters are like me. I’m a _friend_ , you can trust me!”

_M-monsters?,_ He thought alarmingly. _What does he mean, monsters?_

Shaking his head, Izuku focuses back on the present. Admittedly, he felt a tiny bit of guilt at the way he was acting. Flowey has been nothing but nice to him, the least he could do was listen while he was trying to help him out. Even so, there was a small part of him that told him something was seriously wrong.

He pushes that voice away to the back of his mind. Just for the moment.

“Um..” Taking a deep breath, Izuku smiles at the flower. “I-I’m sorry, it’s just.. I’m still uh, adjusting. T-thanks for trying t-to help me out, though! I really do appreciate it!” He exclaims, letting himself relax.

“Oh, that’s okay! The fall must have made you a little woozy, huh?” Flowey replies, chuckling a little. Izuku weakly laughs with him, still trying to get used to this new video game vision he was suspended in. “Well, anyways, let's continue!” The flower says, before what looked like white pellets appeared above his.. Soul? 

“So, down here, LOVE is shared through...Little white…’friendliness pellets’.” Flowey says, smiling widely. Izuku was.. concerned. “Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!” It exclaims, swaying.

Suddenly, he found that the heart-- his _soul_ (and wasn’t _that_ crazy to think about?) was able to freely move. Unthinkingly, Izuku’s soul reaches for one of the pellets when suddenly a blinding pain washed over him, leaving him gasping and crying out.

“You idiot!” The flower exclaims, it’s face changing from friendly and welcoming to something out of a nightmare. It smirked menacingly as Izuku’s soul shook in fear. “In this world, it's kill or BE killed. Why would ANYONE pass up an opportunity like this!?” 

A circle of white pellets suddenly surrounded his soul. Looking down at his HP bar, he abruptly realizes with horror that he only had 1 HP left. 

“ **_Die._ **” Flowey growls, laughing maniacally as the ring of pellets closed in on his soul. Izuku instinctively shut his eyes, regret and despair hanging over him when suddenly--

“Ah!” Flowey screams, a ball of flames pushing him away until he was no longer in front of him. Izuku gasps in shock, his soul jumping in surprise when what looked like a goat entered his vision.

What. The. Actual. Hell.

“What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor, innocent youth…” She says, frowning sadly. He could only gape in confusion and distrust. The goat.. woman must have seen the wariness on his face, because she immediately smiled comfortingly.

Suddenly, Izuku’s surroundings flickered again until he was back in the small area he was in, with the patch of grass where Flowey once was in the middle of the cave, and the purple door frame looming beyond it.

“Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins… I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first human to come here in a long time.” She says. As Izuku listened to her, he unconsciously felt himself relax. For some reason, the look in her eyes reminded him of a mother, though her posture gave him the impression she was someone incredibly important.

“Um, t-thank you” He stutters, nervously wringing his hands together. “For s-saving me, Miss Toriel. I only h-had one HP left whe--” Blinking, Izuku pauses when he realizes that he was back to a full 20 HP of health. How..?

“Of course, my child. I would never stand by idly while someone is about to get hurt if I could do something to stop it.” She says, her eyes soft yet showing incredible conviction.

Izuku’s eyes slightly brightened at that. Even if she knew it or not, for a single moment, she coincidentally sounded just like a hero

Letting himself breath, Izuku nods his head and decides to trust her until she gives him a reason not to. Unlike before with Flowey, he didn’t get a feeling that Toriel had an ulterior motive by helping him out. 

“Now, then” Toriel says, grinning. “Come! I will guide you through the catacombs” 

Turning around, Toriel heads towards the purple door frame with even steps. Izuku takes one more glance back at the small cavern, remembering once again all that has happened, and finally follows.

As they enter, Izuku releases a slow breath of awe at the purple room they find themselves in. Ahead of them were stairs coming from both ends with a pile of orange leaves in the middle. Although it wasn’t much, Izuku still thought it was oddly beautiful.

_And impossible_ , his mind helpfully supplies. _How does one go from falling into a hole, to meeting a bloodthirsty killer flower, to entering a whole new other area with a goat mom!?_

“Come!” She says, venturing up the stairs until she disappeared through the doorframe there. He’s about to follow when he suddenly registers a twinkling, golden light at the base of the stairs. For some reason, Izuku feels himself approaching it and plunging his hands into the golden warmth. Slowly, he feels himself being rejuvenated, his body being rid of all his tiredness and aches. Just as he is about to get his hands out, a box appears in front of him.

  
  


**IZUKU LV 0 0:00**

**Save** **Return**

  
  


_It really is like a game.._ He thinks, his heart- _soul_ reaching out to the save button. So these golden stars were save points, huh?

(Somewhere inside of him, Izuku was still convinced he was dreaming or hallucinating all of this up) 

“My child?” Toriel calls out, concern in her voice.

Flinching, he steps away from the golden light and rushes up the stairs. “C-coming!”

* * *

As Toriel and Izuku made their way around the Ruins, it became clear that the ‘puzzles’ she was talking about weren’t just some innocent, fun addition to the area. 

Izuku still remembered the absolute fear he felt as Toriel took his hand and guided him through the path of spikes. _If I didn’t have her with me, or If I made even one wrong move…_

Can someone double-die? Is that even possible? 

He vaguely registers somewhere that he still thinks he’s dead, and then pushes it to the back of his mind just like he’s been doing his whole life. It was second-nature at this point. Concerning? Maybe. But hey, at least he hasn’t gone insane yet. So there’s that.

Puzzles aside, Izuku made sure to stick close to the motherly woman- goat -uh, monster? As they continued through the large area. Until of course, Toriel said that she had to leave, which Izuku was not prepared for at all. He still had so many questions, and he wasn’t going to stay waiting!

It didn’t really matter in the end though, as she left him with a clunky old-fashioned phone that couldn’t even send messages and told him to be good until she came back.

After five minutes of standing around, the freckled boy decides to continue forward. Toriel said that her house was nearby here, it couldn't be that far away, could it?

(He still feels bad anyways when he decides to go off on his own. Hopefully, Toriel doesn’t get too irritated with him. Most adults usually do, when it comes to him)

As he continued on his own, he slowly started to get used to his ‘battle screen’. The first few times his surroundings flickered to black, it nearly gave him multiple heart attacks. It was just so _surreal_ seeing his soul out in the open like that, along with all the game stats and the turn-system that came with the ‘fighting’.

Fighting in _quotations_ , because he hasn’t even dared to use his fight option thus far. Izuku was a pacifist through and through. If he could talk someone down instead of fighting them, he would take it immediately, unlike a certain blonde he knew.

Sighing, he continues on his journey through the ruins after meeting another Froggit. The little frog-like creature seriously scared him at first, but after using his ‘Act’ button to compliment them, it was like the fear was never there.

Izuku still tries to hide his blush anyways. Only Kami knew if anyone besides him was there to see him pet and coo over the adorable creature. He couldn’t help it though! It just looked so confused but happy and Izuku couldn’t help but think that they must’ve never really received compliments all that often and then one thing led to another and..

Safe to say, monsters weren’t actually _monsters_. They were just.. a species. Like humans. He still had so many questions though! He really wished he had his notebook..

His mood plummets at the thought of his notebook. His burnt, water-logged notebook _._

_I wouldn’t have been able to write anything in it even if I tried, anyways.._

Shaking his head, he wills himself to keep from falling back into the depressive thoughts that got him here in the first place. He needed to be strong! If.. if this was somehow real then- then he owed it to his mother to try and come back to her. He would _not_ give up.

Taking a moment to sort his thoughts, Izuku opens his eyes only to catch something yellow moving at the corner of his eye. Quickly turning around, the greenette furrows his eyebrows in confusion after finding no one there.

“Weird..” He mumbles, taking a quick sweep of the room with his eyes before continuing onward.

Izuku’s journey to Toriel’s house was eventful to say the least. He met many more monsters (a lot of them were seriously fun to talk to!), met a ghost (Izuku couldn’t deny that he wanted to cry when he saw the ghost cry. He wished he could have talked to him more..), talked to a rock (which was.. something else, really), was called by Toriel to know if he preferred cinnamon or butterscotch more (he said he liked both, and Toriel was pretty happy with that. Hopefully she stays that way..), went to a spider bake sale (he bought one doughnut with the gold that magically appeared in his pocket after every battle, and was about to eat it until he learned it was made of spiders. Haha..), and went through a lot of puzzles before _finally_ entering a clearing with a huge tree in the middle, and beyond that..

_A house!_ He thought excitedly, a smile breaking out on his face despite all of the small injuries and scratches covering his body. _It’s Toriel’s house!_

It’s at that very moment when Toriel herself walks out of the door and gets her phone out, only to catch sight of the green haired boy she left behind standing by the tree.

“How did you get here, my child?” She said, surprised. Her shock turned into concern once she noticed the state he was in. “Oh my, are you hurt? There, there, I will heal you!”

Izuku’s eyes widened at this. _Heal? Does she have a healing quirk or something? But doesn’t she also have that fire quirk? A-and wait, does that mean her goat figure isn’t a mutation? Wow, monsters are really cool! Everyone I’ve met so far had one or two quirks with them. Are their quirk factors different because of their species? What even makes_ up _a monster? Do they have the same anatomy as humans? Wait- stupid question, obviously not. But, what really_ are _they? Why has nobody ever seen them before?_

“My child?”

Izuku is broken out of his thoughts by a comforting hand on his shoulder. Meeting Toriel's copper-red eyes, he lets out a sheepish smile.

“U-um, sorry. I was just thinking that- that you have a really cool quirk! All the monsters have really cool quirks. I- I met a ghost who could control his tears, and Loox- he could control bubbles and harden them! A-and you, you can make fireballs and h-heal apparently, which is really rare since those are two completely different quirks!” He said, his mouth running on it’s own accord at his favourite topic. His fingers twitched and ached for a pen and a notebook, but his brain would suffice for now.

Toriel could only look on in confusion. She had never heard of ‘quirks’ before in her life. Is that what they were calling magic now..?

“Ah, my child, I am not completely sure of what you mean by ‘quirks’, however I’m sure we can talk more about this inside. I actually have something prepared just for you! Though, perhaps I shouldn’t have left you alone for so long.. Anyways, come along, small one!”

With that, she gives Izuku a motherly smile and turns around to re-enter her home. The moment she disappears inside the house, Izuku let’s himself have a minor breakdown.

_WHAT DOES SHE MEAN SHE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT QUIRKS ARE??_

After that, it took an embarrassing amount of time for Izuku to resurface from his absolute dumbfoundment. Does that mean that those abilities, those attacks, their forms, literally _everything_ that has been happening thus far wasn’t a result of quirks!? W-what did this even mean!?

“Maybe I’m just actually dead” He whispered to himself, but once again, he bit his tongue and got rid of those thoughts. He was still able to feel pain and fatigue, being dead doesn’t _allow_ a person that luxury (at least he thinks so), so with that logic he can’t actually be... dead.

Taking deep breaths, the freckled boy feels himself regain his earlier determination. The only way left to go was forward, after all.

Walking towards the quaint little home, he quickly spots the golden light from earlier twinkling outside of Toriel’s house. Walking towards it once again, he lets himself fall into it and smiles at the warmth and the feeling of his injuries being healed.

Once he felt as good as new, he stepped back and startled at the box that appeared in front of him.

_The save option, I almost forgot!,_ He thought. Letting his soul reach out to the save button, he feels himself filled with damning resolve to keep going forward.

_I don’t know if these saves are actually real_ , he thinks. _But either way, I’m gonna do my best not to need them!_

With that, Izuku continues on into the unknown.


	3. Fire and the Flood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izuku continues on his quest to return back home and encounters a few obstacles along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo long time no see!
> 
> Anyways, here's another chapter. Hope ya'll like it! 
> 
> (hopefully i didn't make toriel ooc or anything :")) reminder that i dont have a beta reader hahahahah im dyi ng)
> 
> anyways here ya go

Stepping into Toriel’s house was like coming home. 

Even though he had never been here before in his life, the atmosphere of the small home made him immediately relax, much like the woman herself did. The smell that presumably came from the kitchen was sweet and delicious, and the overall feeling of the place was warm.

As he entered, the first thing that caught his eye was the large staircase heading downstairs. He wonders if it was a basement of some sorts? 

For some reason, Izuku made sure to take note of the staircase for later. He had a small feeling that it would lead to something he’ll probably have to encounter sooner or later.

When he was finally able to rip his eyes away from the staircase, he decided to try exploring a little more before finding the woman. Hopefully she wouldn’t mind him snooping a bit. Izuku couldn’t help it though, he was just so curious!

Venturing to the right hallway, he’s instantly met with a few doors and a mirror next to the last door. Trying the first door, it opens up to reveal a bedroom with one bed that was definitely meant for a child. As he continues to look around, he finds a closet filled with striped shirts, multiple shoes stored at the side of the room, and small trinkets laying here and there around the small space.

_ Does this mean that Toriel has a child? _ He thinks.  _ Even though this is a kids room, why does it feel so.. unused? Now that I think about it, almost everything here has a layer of dust over it. If she really did have a child with her.. I don't think they’re living here anymore. _

Frowning at the observations he was making in his head, he decides to step out of the room and venture to the next one.

Opening up the door of the next room, he nearly makes a U-turn when he realizes he was in Toriel’s room.

_ S-should I really be snooping in her room? _ He thinks, a little guilty and panicked.  _ I mean, I know I should be looking for clues about this place and how to get out of here but.. I feel kind of bad.. _

Shaking his head and strengthening his resolve, he decides to enter anyway. If he did end up finding anything really private, he promised to himself that he would put it back immediately.

Entering the simple room, he looks around and tries to open up the few books she had in her bookshelf. Maybe this would help him understand what this place really was!

Letting his eyes skim over the book, he quickly realizes what he was reading was not Japanese, English, or  _ any  _ language for that matter. All he could make out were strange symbols and squiggles that meant nothing to him.

Okay, so monster language was a thing apparently.

_ But if that was the case, _ He thinks.  _ How come I can understand them? They obviously have their own language based on this book. Maybe these symbols are just another way of speaking the same language? Or maybe their writing systems are just different.. wouldn’t that be a hassle to teach and learn though? Weird.. _

Putting the book back on its shelf, he moves on and inspects the rest of the room until he happens upon the monster’s diary. From what he could decipher from here, it seemed like it was written in English (which again, weird..). Letting out an ‘eep!’, he quickly tries to decide if looking through her diary would be an invasion of privacy or not.

_ Of course it is, you dumb deku! _ He reprimands himself. But.. but maybe just a peek at the page that’s already open? He swears he won't try to look deeper!

Biting his lip, he hesitantly looks at the open page of the diary and reads the passage encircled in red.

“Why did the skeleton want a friend?” He mumbles quietly, “Because he was Bone-ly”

Pausing, he neglects reading the rest of the passage and just stares blankly at the open notebook.

“Oh my god, she sincerely likes bad jokes” He whispers out loud. At least  _ now  _ he knows that he can trust Toriel’s character, his mother was the exact same at liking bad jokes. It was like what Mitsuki-ba once said to him when he was younger.

_ “Kiddo, people like your mom, who genuinely like and laugh at bad jokes, have an integrity that other people don't have. She’s one in a million” She had said, smiling softly at the sight of her best friend losing it over one of Masaru’s bad jokes. _

Smiling wistfully at the memory, he sighs and decides to leave the diary alone. He’s already gotten what he needed from that. Moving on, he half-heartedly continues to check the drawers on her desk when he suddenly happens upon a wrinkled photograph. Blinking, he holds it up only to find Toriel smiling brightly alongside a man that looked similar to her, and two little kids. One of the children was obviously the biological kid of Toriel and whoever that guy in the picture was, but the other one.. they looked human.

_ Is this supposed to be her family? _ He thinks a little sadly.  _ If that’s the case then.. where are they now? The kids room was old and dusty and had only one bed, and Toriel’s bed looked only big enough to fit her.. _

Frowning, he gently puts the photograph back in its place and shuts the drawer before quietly making his way out of the room. As he went to approach the last door, Toriel’s voice echoed along the hallway.

“My child, where are you?” She calls out, a little worry injected into her voice.

Grimacing, he decides to just try the doorknob of the last room when a note on the door catches his eye.

‘Room Under Renovation’

As he experimentally tried to twist the doorknob, he found that it  _ was  _ in fact locked.

For some reason, he felt relieved. Maybe all the snooping was making him uncomfortable too. He really did feel like he intruded on something really personal to Toriel in her room.

Turning around, he replies to her call. “I’m okay, Ms. Toriel, I’m coming!”

* * *

As Izuku sat by the dining table as per Toriel’s insistence, she cheerfully exited the kitchen holding up something steaming and incredibly delicious if the smell was anything to go by.

“Well, I suppose there’s no more reason to hold back the surprise!” the goat woman says teasingly, noticing Izuku’s hungry and confused expression. The boy flushes when he realizes he was caught.

“Now, here you are my child. A special butterscotch-cinnamon pie made just for you!” She says cheerfully, cutting a slice from the pan and placing it on his plate.

Toriel sits in front of him as he shyly smiles in thanks, cutting a small piece (just to be safe, what if monster food wasn’t compatible with him?) and placing it in his mouth. The moment the pastry entered his mouth however, he brightened up immediately.

This was.. this was delicious!

Least to say, his one slice was finished pretty damn fast. He could tell Toriel noticed it as well since she was giggling at his stuffed cheeks.

After swallowing the last bite, he turned to Toriel and bowed his head to her.

“T-thank you so much for the meal! It was really amazing, a-and thank you also for being so kind! A-and letting me in your home! I c-can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help.” He exclaims meaningfully. 

The motherly monster covers her mouth in slight shock for a moment, before softening her eyes into a gentle warmth.

“Oh, child--

“M-my name is, um, Izuku!”

Toriel smiles happily.

“Izuku then, it is my absolute pleasure to help you along. If there is anything else you need, then I am glad to help you!”

Widening his eyes, Izuku realizes that this could be his chance to learn more about this world and how to get home! Since he couldn’t read any of the books in this place, his next best source of information for now.. was Toriel herself.

“I-If it’s no trouble, I-I do have some questions..” He says. The delicious pie sat on the side for now as he placed his full attention on the monster before him. The woman tenses for just a moment before sighing, smiling a little knowingly.

“I had a feeling you would say that my child, seeing as I have discovered you to be very curious so far. I have to say though, is my room really all that special? You did spend some time in there after all..”

Gaping in guilt and embarrassment at being called out, he tries his best to stutter out an apology as the monster just waves him off with a laugh.

“It is alright, Izuku. I do not blame you for being cautious and curious about your new surroundings. You must have been quite confused finding yourself here..” A sigh. “It’s been quite a while since the last human fell down here, so I hope I wasn’t too overbearing on you, my child”

“N-no, not at all! You’ve been so helpful to me, Ms.Toriel, and I’m really really happy you were here to g-guide me!” Izuku says, eyes bright and genuine. Toriel happily smiles, the corner of her eyes crinkling, before placing her large (paw? hoove?) hand on top of his head to gently ruffle his hair.

“I’m very glad to hear that, my child” She says, retracting her hand after a few seconds. Izuku hasn’t felt that warm in.. a while. 

“Now then, what is it that you want to ask?”

Sitting up a little straighter, Izuku starts to gather information to make his analysis.

* * *

“Okay, The most obvious question first, where.. am I? F-flowey, um, the flower from before, said something about the Underground but..”

“Well, that much is correct I can say.” A pause. “Thousands of years ago, humans and monsters lived in harmony until the humans initiated a war against our kind. They were afraid of the power we would possess if we were to absorb a human soul, which when combined with our monster soul would give us unfathomable power. Eventually, after a hard fought battle, the humans won and used powerful magic to seal us underground, creating the barrier. This is why when I say that it has been a long time since a human fell here.. well, I really did mean it. The top of the mountain must be overtaken by nature at this point.”

“T-thousands of years ago..?” He asked, a little horrified. A whole race has been living literally under their feet for more than a thousand years and nobody noticed? 

Biting his lip, he went to ask another question when he registered the look in Toriel’s eyes. To put it bluntly, it was like she was.. remembering.

Izuku worriedly looks at Toriel before hesitantly asking--

“Ms.Toriel.. were you a part of that war?”

The woman looked at him then, and instead of the motherly figure that he had come to know, he was face to face with someone who carried strength and authority in her very being.

“My child” She says, smiling sadly. “I used to be the queen”

And that, Izuku thinks, is the moment his respect for Toriel flies through the roof.

She was so brave and.. she must have been so scared as well. 

Getting up, he circles the table to hug her. “I’m sorry” He says.

Briefly closing her eyes, she gives the boy a small grin. “Thank you, my child”

* * *

“Can you explain more about um, souls? It seems like an important thing down here s-seeing as it’s how you f-fight and stuff..”

“Oh my! Well, I may not be the royal scientist, but I  _ do  _ know the bare basics! Let’s see.. well, your SOUL is the very culmination of your being. It consists of everything that makes you.. _y_ _ ou _ . Human souls are also particularly stronger than monster souls, because of the fact that it can persist even after death. As far as my knowledge goes, it would take more than all of the monster souls here in the underground to match the strength of just one human soul”

“That’s… ridiculously overpowered, wow..” He says, a little shell-shocked. If humans were that powerful anyways, was it really even necessary for that war to happen? He suddenly feels very protective of the woman before him. Queen or not, she was a monster, and if what she said was true, then..

“Do not fret, my child. We are not completely powerless, we still do have our magic after all.” She reassures, creating a small fireball in her hand in a small demonstration.

* * *

“About that, um.. What- what  _ is  _ magic?" He asks, finally asking the million dollar question. He's been holding that question in for a while now, and he was excited and extremely curious to learn exactly what it is.

"Hmm, well magic essentially runs the underground. It is like.. an energy, your soul energy. My, it is quite hard to explain but, imagine that if the soul is the culmination of your being, then magic is the fuel-- at least that is the case for monsters." Toriel explains, clearly struggling to answer.

"A-and your powers?" He asks, deeply invested. "C-cause from what I've seen so far, they don't really look like quirks, so is that magic too?" 

"Well, I still do not quite understand what a 'quirk' is--" ("I'll explain later!") "--but yes, our powers  _ do _ come from magic. Like I said, magic is like the fuel to our soul, which is why it manifests differently for everyone. The power source in the underground, the CORE, is actually providing us the magical energy we need to be able to use whatever technology we have”

"Woah.. that's so cool!" Izuku exclaims, eyes twinkling. “A-and wait! You said before that humans were the ones who created the barrier. So does that mean human’s had magic too..?”

Toriel briefly chuckles at the boy’s enthusiasm before continuing. “Well.. I am not entirely sure if I am correct, however, from previous humans who have passed here, I have come to learn that humans no longer possess the capacity to harness their magical abilities.. It seems that your ancestors have neglected to use this powerful energy for so long that it has become dormant.”

_ If that’s true then.. does that mean I could use magic too? If I try? If I can then.. then just maybe I can be a her--! _

Izuku shakes his head before that particular thought crawls its way inside his heart. He doesn’t need anymore false hope. He doesn’t think he could take any more.

* * *

“What happened to the humans before me? Were they able to get home?”

Toriel goes quiet at this question, her eyes shifting through many different emotions before setting her face into a sad smile. 

“I took care of them for as long as they would let me”

She leaves it at that, and doesn’t expound any further. 

Izuku feels a pit form in his stomach and doesn’t push. Something about the way she worded that left him.. unsettled.

* * *

“Do you know how I could get ho--”

“Oh my!” Toriel suddenly exclaims, cutting him off. “The pie has gone cold, my child. Perhaps we can continue this questioning later.. actually, perhaps tomorrow would be better. It’s become very late, and you must be tired from your little adventure today in the Ruins.”

Standing up, the motherly goat delicately takes the pie and places it on the kitchen counter before returning. “Come then, Izuku, let me lead you to your room”

“O-oh, but I--”

“Please, my dear. I’m sure you’re very tired” She says, and if she wasn’t so good at hiding her emotions, he would say she almost looked.. desperate.

Izuku gulps and relents, standing up to follow Toriel to the children's room he saw earlier.

His sleep that day was wracked with dreams about another time, where monsters and humans happily lived together. He dreams about introducing Ms.Toriel to his mother, and smiles at the vision of them being good friends.

He dreams, and then he wakes, and it is back to a reality he is forced to live with.

Even so, he will  _ not  _ give up.

* * *

The next day, Izuku hesitantly grabs a black and green striped sweater from the closet and puts it on. Toriel had mentioned somewhere in their discussion yesterday that it was cold outside the Ruins, so he has to be prepared.

Today, he was going to..

He pushes away the traitorous thoughts in his head telling him to let go of everything and just stay here. She had mentioned multiple times that this was his home now, but as much as he wanted to stay here with her, he can’t give up. He just  _ can’t _ .

Taking one, deep shaky breath, he exhales and goes to open the door when he sees a slice of butterscotch-cinnamon pie on a plate by his bed.

Another deep breath, he feels a stinging in his eyes.

Taking the pie, he manages to scavenge a string bag in the room and after carefully wrapping the food in plastic, stores it in the bag for later. 

He opens the door, and immediately notices that the house is eerily quiet.

Tightening his hold on the bag slung over his shoulder, he shakily ventures forward until he reaches the top of the staircase. 

Inhale, Exhale.

He goes down.

Waiting at the bottom of the stairs is Toriel, her eyes expressionless as she holds her poker face. Izuku looks away from her gaze, unable to meet her eyes.

“Please go back upstairs, my child” She says. “This is no place for children like you”

He doesn’t move.

Toriel sighs and turns around, walking through the hallway. Izuku is quick to follow until she stops in the middle, refusing to look back at him.

“Izuku, you are a smart child, I am sure you must have figured out some things from our discussion yesterday” She says quietly. “Ahead of us lies the end of the RUINS. A one-way exit to the rest of the underground. I am going to destroy it. No one will ever be able to leave again. Now be a good child and go upstairs.”

She walks. He follows.

Another pause. “Every human that falls down here meets the same fate. I have seen it again and again. They come. They leave. They die.” 

Izuku’s breath hitches. He had his suspicions, but for it to be confirmed was…

_ After all, if they did survive, we would have been aware of the underground existing. The fact that we don’t only means that.. they never made it out in the first place. _

“You naive child... If you leave the Ruins... They--  _ Asgore _ , will kill you. I am only protecting you, do you understand? Go to your room. Please” 

Izuku is scared as all hell, he’ll be the first to admit it. He’s always been weak, useless ‘Deku’, what makes him think that he could survive when others didn’t? 

Toriel walks again, and he follows. 

His determination overpowers his fear.

His love overpowers his doubts.

He would never forgive himself if he didn’t at least  _ try _ . He owed that much to his mother. He owed that much to  _ himself _ . 

So, he keeps walking. They both do, until they turn a corner and finally end up in front of a large, purple door.

The exit to the ruins. 

“When I spoke with you in length the day before, I did not think you would be like the others.” Toriel says, briefly shutting her eyes in grief. She smiles bitterly. “I was a fool”

Standing in front of the door, she faces him and hardens her eyes.

“There is only one solution to this.” She says. “Prove yourself. Prove to me that you are strong enough to survive!” She suddenly exclaims, and Izuku gasps as their surroundings flicker to the black void.

“No..” He whispers. “No, no Toriel please! I don’t want to hurt you! I won’t!” He cries, but his words fall on deaf ears.

Golden light fills the room through Toriel’s flames, and then she attacks.

Izuku heaves and cries out as he dodges and dodges and dodges. The flames lick and burn at his soul, and therefore his skin, as she keeps up her attacks; It’s taking all Izuku has just to stay  _ alive _ . 

He uses the Act option and tries to reason with the monster, but she refuses to hear anything. He tries to keep up with her attacks, but he’s getting weaker and weaker by the moment, his items slowly dwindling in size. 

So, he goes to his last option. The only option. 

He chooses Mercy, and he watches as each attack gets weaker and weaker. He watches as Toriel’s expression twists from cold indifference to grief and sadness. 

At this point, tears run freely down his face in pain and resolve.

“Please, Toriel” He sobs. “Please..”

His tears run down faster, his soul glows  _ bright _ .

The Act option trembles, and a small crack forms at the corner when Izuku chooses it and finds a new option.

~~ * H **u** _ G _ ~~

He doesn’t hesitate.

Just before Toriel could produce another half-hearted attack, Izuku barrels forward and hugs her tightly. His sobs are muffled by her dress as he tightly holds on to the cloth.

The flames go out, black flickers into purple, and Toriel crumbles.

“Pathetic, is it not?” She says, dropping into a crouch to embrace him fully, her own tears falling into his curls. “I cannot save even a single child..” She shakily utters, laughing sadly.

“I w-won’t die” He says with tears in his eyes, pulling back to look at her watery gaze. “I won’t, I swear I won’t. I-I’ll find a way out, and then I’m going to tell everyone about this place, and then you’re going to be free, and- and then--”

“Shh” She soothes, her hand running through his curls. Izuku leans into her warmth and lets a few more tears slip from his eyes.

“Toriel” He says, with steel under his shaky voice. “I won’t die” He promises, and even after knowing the fate of the other humans who fell here, he surprises himself with how much he believes it. His fear from before has completely vanished.

Toriel looks at this child, so different from the others who fell before him, and somehow.. She believes him. She truly, truly does.

She puts on a smile, cradles his face in her hands, and presses a light kiss to his forehead. “I believe you” She whispers, eyes shut. “and I trust you. I trust you, my child.. So please, keep walking as far as you can. Eventually, you will reach an exit.”

She exhales. “Asgore.. Do not let  _ Asgore  _ take your soul. His plan cannot be allowed to succeed. Promise me, my child,  _ Izuku _ . Promise me that you will do all that you can to be safe”

Wiping away his tears, he smiles and squeezes her hand. “I promise” 

Toriel must have found something in his gaze or in the way he said those words, because she suddenly relaxes. With a sigh, she wipes away her own tears and stands. 

“Then I will not keep you any longer. I wish you the best of luck, but I do have one request.. When you leave, please do not come back. I hope you understand” She says softly.

Izuku widens his eyes. “B-but--!”

Toriel sighs. “Izuku, I..” “No!”

The woman is clearly taken aback by his strong declaration, her eyes wide in shock. “My child..”

“N-No.” Izuku stutters, his confidence from earlier slowly dwindling the more he spoke. Exhaling shakily, he wills himself to keep it up just for a few more minutes. Just a few.

“N-no. I.. You ask them not to come back so that if t-they die, it wouldn’t come back to haunt you, r-right?”

She doesn’t reply, but her grief ridden eyes tell him enough.

“You said you t-trusted me, so just.. I-I um..” Izuku’s hands tremble as his confidence leaves him, but even through all his stuttering, it seemed like Toriel understood.

“Alright, my child.” Toriel says, relenting. “I.. my doors will be open for you, and only you.” She says, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“T-thank you.. I promise I’ll come back and visit.” He says, grinning even through his red rimmed eyes.

Toriel chuckles. “I’ll be waiting, then” She squeezes his shoulder, and then lets go.

“I must say, you are the most stubborn child I have ever met thus far--” Izuku hunches his shoulders a little in shame. “--but perhaps.. at least with you, it is a good quality to have”

Izuku looks up at her, and she sends him a motherly smile. Turning around, she starts walking back into the Ruins when she pauses right at the corner.

“Be good, won’t you my child?”

Izuku nods and beams at her. “I’ll see you later, Toriel”

Her eyes glisten as she returns his smile, and then she is gone.

Taking a deep breath, Izuku turns around and stares at the looming, purple doors before him. Setting his shoulders, he pushes onward and doesn’t look back.

  
He’s filled.. with  _ determination _ .


End file.
